“THIS IS WHAT CHANGE LOOKS LIKE” – HIDDEN TAXES, FINES AND BRIBES

President Obama and his legion, Pelosi, Reid, Stupak, et al, have said basically that once the American people get to know what’s in the healthcare legislation, they’ll actually like it. We all know how very important it is to the President and Speaker Pelosi that the American people be happy.

One must assume, based on the President’s assurance, that once we get to know this health care reform legislation up-close and personally, we’ll be so happy that we’ll all gather on a hilltop and hold hands to sing a groovy song and will vote unanimously to usher in a new age of Aquarius.

Okay. Let’s see if that works.

Here are a couple of things I learned about this legislation since its passage that I had not known previously.

• When you buy your federally mandated, IRS enforced – either by penalty of a fine or imprisonment – health care insurance you may be buying from an insurance company that will donate a portion of what you spend for your insurance to a special fund to help pay for abortions. It is now mandatory that certain insurance carriers provide a portion of what you pay them for health care coverage to a special abortion fund – Stupak’s hastily scribbled hall pass aside, this is now law.
o There is no special fund for Breast Cancer
o There is no special fund for Heart Disease
o There is no special fund for Diabetes or MS
o There is ONLY a special fund to pay for abortions
• When you sell a home in Mr. Obama’s new and improved America a 4% tax will be levied on your proceeds from the sale which will go to cover Health Care costs.
• Tanning? Apparently Dems want us all to be pasty for some reason…if you frequent tanning salons, you will pay a 10% excise tax.
• Mobility be damned! If you purchase a wheelchair, you will pay a 2.3% excise tax. I’m sure those confined to wheelchairs will consider this to be a great step forward in care.
• Pharmaceutical companies will be allowed to pass a $3 billion annual fee on to you, the consumer, in the form of more expensive drugs and medication.
• About those fines – Citizens who don’t purchase insurance would be subject to a fine of $325 in 2015 and $695 in 2016. Individuals may be subject to a charge equal to as much as 2.5 percent of their income in 2016.
• The Medicare payroll tax will now be applied to investment income, beginning in 2013.
o A new 3.8 percent tax will be levied on interest, dividends, capital gains and other investment income for individuals making more than $200,000 a year and couples making more than $250,000.
• The Medicare payroll tax will increase by 0.9 percentage point to 2.35 percent on wages above $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for married couples filing jointly.
• A 40% tax on health benefits happens in 2018 and applies to premiums exceeding $10,200 a year for individuals and $27,500 for families. In other words, that phrase – “If you like your current insurance, it won’t change” was a big fat lie. If you have great insurance, you’ll now be taxed for the privilege. A 40% tax is a change.
• Taxes and more taxes –
o According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, a nonpartisan agency, this legislation will generate $409.2 billion in additional taxes by 2019. The Congressional Budget Office also says that the Health Care Reform legislation will impose about $69 billion in penalties for both individual and businesses who don’t meet new mandates to buy health insurance.
• Here’s a really sneaky tax “increase” – if you itemize your tax returns, the deductible for medical expenses will change. You will only be allowed to deduct medical expenses in excess of 10% of your adjusted gross income. Currently that number is 7.5%.
• A medical plan tax that includes several different provisions to increase multiple taxes on things such as cosmetic surgery, cafeteria plans, health insurance providers, production and importation of drugs and medical devices, medical information providing, hospitals and the adjusted gross income floor of medical expenses.
• Doctors and hospitals will receive less compensation than they do now to control revenue streams.
• The Medicare program will see $500 billion in cuts to its program along with the Medicare tax being raised.
• 60% of new enrollees in health care programs will be fully subsidized by you.

Then there’s all those “incentives” laced into the legislation – strangely – only for those Representatives who voted “Yes” for this legislation.

Even the most casual observer must wonder how a struggling economy, with out-of-control unemployment can bear the burden of so much additional taxation and spending.

President Obama gloated, “This is what change looks like.”

To be fair, I suppose it is possible that Barack Obama never actually said the change he was promising would be positive change, or even change that the American people wanted.

This may be what change looks like, but it is also what bitter partisanship looks like.

Obama promised to reach across the aisle. He never mentioned that once he reached across he was going to sucker punch the Republicans.

Never did I hear Obama promise to ignore the will of the people.

Since last night, Obama, Pelosi and their legion have taken time to grin and pose for the cameras and proclaim the passage of this bill as “historic”. They’ve taken time to pat themselves on the back and to say that this legislation compares to the passage of Medicare, the passage of Social Security and the passage of Civil Rights.

In terms of the monumental impact this law will have on our nation, they are correct to rank it up there with all of those past life-changing pieces of legislation. There is however one incredibly glaring difference. Those milestone pieces of legislation all passed with bi-partisan support.

The only bi-partisanship exhibited in the passing of this legislation was on the side of dissent with more than 30 Democrats crossing over to the Republican side of the aisle to cast their “No” votes. The only Democratic Representative from the state of Texas to vote “No” was Waco’s Chet Edwards.

Obama, Pelosi and the others have suddenly become aware of the words “prayer” and “constitution” and the terms “founding fathers” and to watch them use these words to justify their power grab is insulting. It’s every bit as insulting as the American people being told over and over again that “once you understand it” you’ll be happy to have it.

The condescending attitude from this President and this Congress is unprecedented. The President added to the insult by saying, “We proved that this government — a government of the people and by the people — still works for the people.”

Mr. President that is perhaps your boldest and most condescending lie to date.

56% of the people in this nation opposed this health care reform legislation. Your actions have proven that your words have no meaning and that your government — a government of the politician and for the politician — views the people with absolute disdain.